Expect Your Money In 7 Days – NDIC Assures Heritage Bank Customers
BY COBHAM NSA – The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says all depositors of now liquidated Heritage Bank will be paid their money within seven days baring any unforseen circumstances.
Assuring the depositors that there’s no cause for alarm, the Corporation said the process of paying them has already commenced and that they will be settled within a week as against the standard 30 days as mandated by law.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive of NDIC, Bello Hassan, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja, on Wednesday, detailed the repayment procedures with an assurance of speedy resolution.
According to him; “Preliminary findings show that depositors fund was about N650 billion while the Bank loans was around N700 billion.”
Hassan further said that “Among the 2.3 million depositors of the Bank, 99 per cent have deposits below N5 million which is within the threshold which the NDIC insures for bank depositors.”
Coming just two days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the revocation of the bank’s licence, the NDIC boss said the move to pay the bank’s depositors would help to engender confidence among depositors to promote financial stability.
Hassan also said the deposits and the loans could be more, but the final amount would be known at the end of the liquidation processes, adding that customers with Bank Verification Number (BVN) will be paid without verification with the Corporation while those without BVN will visit the nearest NDIC office or website for their verification.
Furthermore, he said there was no need for depositors to panic as the corporation would settle all insured deposits.
On the ongoing process of liquidation, Hassan said; “The bank has 116 branches and regional offices and we have deployed close to 400 staff of NDIC to take charge of the assets.
“If you have N100, we will pay you, if you have N5 million, we will pay you, if you have N10 million, we will pay N5 million for now because that is the insured sum.
“Depositors do not need to panic; you will get your money back. We will start payment of the insured sums by this week, but it will be difficult for me to give the time frame for the payment of the uninsured deposits.”
Addressing issues around litigations, the Managing Director said NDIC was prepared to handle any litigation likely to come from the bank’s liquidation.
Hassan said support from the judiciary is key in expediting hearings on any debt recovery case brought by the corporation, adding that; “When cases are delayed in debt recovery, it is depositors that suffer.
“We believe that the judiciary will give the cases accelerated hearing”.
Urging bank customers to continue their banking businesses without any fear, the NDIC Chief Executive assured that the system was safe and sound.
On Monday, the CBN revoked the operational licence of Heritage Bank due to the bank’s inability to improve its financial performance.
The apex bank said in a statement that; “The Board and Management of the bank have not been able to improve the bank’s financial performance, a situation which constitutes a threat to financial stability”.
